The Formation of Reason

“This is a book of fresh and original perceptions concerning questions in mental, moral, and metaphysical philosophy. I admire the system by which Bakhurst so often proceeds of critical resume of previous work—both the old and the new, the familiar and the unfamiliar. Few can cast the net so wide or, in doing so, stick so admirably to the point. Here lies the possibility of progress in philosophy.”
—Professor David Wiggins, New College, Oxford

“The philosophy of Bildung must be at the heart of any effort to comprehend our lives. This much will be evident to the reader of David Bakhurst’s admirable book The Formation of Reason, which shows how reflection on Bildung supplies us with the means to see through persistent confusions besetting our thought about self and other, mind and body, freedom and nature, autonomy and sociality.”
—Professor Sebastian Rödl, Philosophisches Seminar, Universität Basel